So here we are again. It has been a solid three months since the last one of these was slopped together... seemed it might be time again. So onward we go.
Since returning from Guam back in December, work as been at a total stand still, but I have taken a number of small vacations. Now, I know what you are thinking... "Just what he needs...", right? "Some vacations to help cope with his oh, so stressful life."
The first of these was a short trip back home to MN for the holidays. A few days after Christmas, my lady Lindsey and I flew to Arizona to soak up the sun (or so we had hoped). We some how planned our trip right in the middle of a cold snap in AZ. "Cold snap in Arizona?" you might be wondering, bemused. But in fact there were a number of days where it was warmer back home in Rapid City, SD than is was where we were. There was even one day when it was 13 degree's (Fahrenheit mind you) when we started our hike into a climb.
This picture here is from one day of climbing around Phoenix with my ol' buddy Colin (you can see Colin and Lindsey sitting back to back as I climb to the top).
We spent about 10 days in AZ in all, traveling from Phoenix up north to Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Prescott, and Sedona and then back south to Tucson. Maynard James Keenan, front man of such bands as Tool and A Perfect Circle, has a winery in Jerome, AZ. We stopped in there and had a few AZ grown, rock star made wines.
The view seldom seen...a panorama shot from the top of a spire climb done in Sedona (you have to click on it to see the full picture). Another day of freezing winds, numb fingers, and yet amazing scenery and solitude.
Despite a few trips here and there and the occasional nice day for climbing, life can move a little slow when you have months to kill, days and days of bad weather, and not much to do. Assigning yourself little projects seems to help pass the time and one of the projects that has been occupying a lot of my life is making music (forgive the shameless self promotion here). If you find yourself bored please stop over here (https://soundcloud.com/dirtibirdi) and check out what I have been working on.
Another new venture yours truly has started dabbling in is putting up new climbing routes. Basically what this means is going out, searching for potential routes that no one has climbed yet, and trying to climb it. In doing this one is faced with a much greater adventure as you have no information ahead of time about what to expect or how difficult it might be.
Here is a picture of Lindsey getting ready to rappel off of a new route that we put up. The bolts in which we are entrusting our lives were placed by us, by hand. Being the gentleman, I let her go first...
So aside from these things, not a whole lot else has been going on. We recently returned from a trip to Colorado in which we did a bit of climbing, and saw some familiar faces.
Dan
